Damage or disease that affects the integral structure of a bone structure or more specifically, a vertebral body within an individual's spinal column may lead to neurologic impairment with possible permanent damage to the surrounding tissue. Maintaining proper anatomic spacing within a bone structure and the spinal column is, critical to ensuring continued functionality of the surrounding tissue and for the spinal column, the spinal cord and nerve roots and therefore, avoidance of long term serious neurological impairment.
Typically, spinal implants that are used as a spacer type of device have a fixed overall length and are implanted without the ability to adjust the degree of expansion or curvature without using multiple insertion instrumentation. A need remains for a multipurpose instrument to be used to implant a spacer type of implant that allows the surgeon to minimize the size of the surgical incision, facilitate the operative technique and decrease patient morbidity.